Read this if you feel like crap.

  • Marcy Lewis
    10 years ago

    **Found this on Tumblr. Lifted my spirits a lot & thought I'd share.

    1. There will be several days that you daydream about stepping in front of a city bus. Don't. It will not be beautiful. It will not be brave. It will be selfish. It will be broken. Your mother will cry.

    2. Don't write for him. Write for you. Write for others like you. Write so the girl that thinks about stepping in front of public transportation doesn't. Don't be selfish.

    3. When you will yourself to sleep and it doesn't come- get up. It doesn't matter that it's 3 am. There will be other 3 am's. Take a shower. Take two. Wash him out of your hair. Write a poem. Read the same book you've read 202 times again. The 203rd time might tell you something different. Don't stay in bed- you will think about the bus again.

    4. Don't kiss him because he's broken. Don't kiss him because his laughter never reaches his eyes. Don't try and fix him. Fix yourself first. Be selfish. He can't save you.

    5. Date yourself. Take yourself out to eat. Don't share your popcorn at the movies with anyone. Stroll around an art museum alone. Fall in love with canvases. Fall in love with yourself.

    6. Dress up and wear red lipstick and get drunk with your friends. They're the ones that will pick you up. Don't kiss him. Or him. Don't fall asleep on strange couches with strange boys. When his hand slides up your dress walk away. Hit him. Don't kiss him. He can't save you.

    7. Get another tattoo. Get five more. Get another hole in your ear. Don't listen to your dad. You will still be able to get a job. Did you really want to be employed by someone like your father? Haven't you had enough of judgmental old white men anyway? Get f--k you tattooed in tiny letters on your hip.

    8. When you feel the yearning for a new city- start over. Take 200 bucks and a three suitcases. Work anywhere that will have you. Meet strange people and forget your name. Call yourself Ruby. No one will know the difference. Remember to call your mother. Don't be selfish. Come home when you find yourself in the strangers and the small one bedroom apartment.

    9. Don't whisper evil things into your own ear. Other people are going to shout them at you. Be your own hero. Keep a sword on your key ring.

    10. Don't step in front of a city bus. It will not be beautiful. Live. Stay up all night with a boy that promises you everything and means it. Live. See shitty local bands with a friend. Wear a different band's t-shirt. No one will care. Live. Have a baby girl with tiny fingers and tiny toes someday. Pour love into her until it's overflowing. Live. Wake up. Staying in bed all day is not poetic.

    Live. Live.

    Live.

    Do you hear that? It's me. It's your life. Wake up.

  • Poet on the Piano
    10 years ago

    Reading this again. I think I read it last week but Linda thank you for sharing... this is truly amazing!

    I love when you come across treasures like this. It's beautiful beyond words. That whole message and all the images just bring my spirit up like you said it did for you. Life can be all that we want it to be and sometimes it's okay to just do things that comfort us, even if others think it's a waste of time, we need to do what will help us move on. Hopefully others can read!

  • Marcy Lewis
    10 years ago

    Another great one from Tumblr!

    "Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

    Find a girl who reads. You'll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She's the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That's the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

    She's the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she's kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author's making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

    Buy her another cup of coffee.

    Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce's Ulysses she's just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

    It's easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she's going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

    She has to give it a shot somehow.

    Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

    Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

    Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

    If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She'll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

    You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she's sick. Over Skype.

    You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn't burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

    Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you're better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

    Or better yet, date a girl who writes."

  • Linda
    10 years ago

    Bumping. This really is uplifting. Read it.

  • Britt
    10 years ago

    I LOOOOVE THESE.

    First post, all the "he can't save you". That's so true. I wish more people (especially teenage and twenty-somethings) could understand that more.

  • Linda
    10 years ago

    I know. Every now and then I run across these little gems. LOVE THEM.

  • Poet on the Piano
    10 years ago

    That's exactly what they are, gems! :D
    It's neat you found these on tumblr because I've found a lot of inspiration on there as well from photos to writing ideas & responses. Hadn't heard of the website a few years ago but getting into it now!

  • Britt
    10 years ago

    Okay, so I'm too old to know whats cool and what isn't anymore... whats tumblr? lol

  • Poet on the Piano
    10 years ago

    You are not haha :)

    Apparently it was founded in 2007 but I hadn't heard of it 'til a few years ago. It's blogging basically where you can repost people's blogs (pics/video/words), and you can share anything you wish. You can also look up ideas by searching the tags people do (like hashtagging I think??) and categories.

  • Hannah Lizette
    10 years ago

    I'm so glad I got bored and came rummaging through here... I love these!!!! Especially the second one!

  • Trinity Heart
    10 years ago

    I love the second one it made me laugh because I love to read and I'm sure my exs all have a story or two about how "sweet" and how I act like a "little angel" but it's true I do live in the clouds...I love Ink Exchange and I LOVE Irial *.* I love him even though at first he comes out as a villian

  • Thoughts unseen
    10 years ago

    I love this

  • Thoughts unseen
    10 years ago

    Really glad I read this

  • H. Elizabeth
    9 years ago

    Linda i love these and my favorite is probably #4. You CAN'T fix him.

    I love that you posted these. I love you girl.